ACLU-TN Statement on White County Inmate Sterilization and Birth Control Program

ACLU-TN Statement on White County Inmate Sterilization and Birth Control Program

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 19, 2017

CONTACT
Lindsay Kee, 615-320-7142

SPARTA, Tenn. – A judge in White County, Tennessee has issued a standing order offering a 30-day reduction in jail time to male inmates who get vasectomies and female inmates who get a Nexplanon implant in their arms. The ACLU of Tennessee has issued the following statement in response.

The following can be attributed to Hedy Weinberg, ACLU-TN executive director:

“Offering a so-called ‘choice’ between jail time and coerced contraception or sterilization is unconstitutional. Such a choice violates the fundamental constitutional right to reproductive autonomy and bodily integrity by interfering with the intimate decision of whether and when to have a child, imposing an intrusive medical procedure on individuals who are not in a position to reject it. Judges play an important role in our community – overseeing individuals’ childbearing capacity should not be part of that role.”

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ACLU-TN is freedom’s watchdog, challenging government abuse of rights and fighting for fairness in our laws and their enforcement. We are dedicated to translating the guarantees of the Bill of Rights into reality for all Tennesseans.